COLUMBIA, S.C. — If you have a family member or friend who is incarcerated, there is a new way to find out if they need help or if they are experiencing a problem.
The South Carolina Department of Corrections is implementing a new inmate concern communication line to bring relief to family and friends.
Before this, concerns were sent to the South Carolina Office of Ombudsman or the specific correctional institution's medical team.
Now, it's streamlined through a team of five, including two nurses at the South Carolina Department of Corrections.
The department got about 415 call complaints last year, with a standard of 10 medical calls and eight ombudsman calls every day.
Families call about a number of concerns.
"My loved one's supposed to have a follow-up appointment and when is that going to happen? My loved one's not feeling well, can someone go check on them? Especially with COVID, that's obviously increased," said the director of the state's department of corrections," Bryan Stirling. "I will tell you, though, because of HIPAA, we do need to have a release from folks to talk to them about their loved one's care."
The hope is that this gets problems fixed faster.
"This helps us also to better direct care, to follow up, and to make sure that things are being done properly at the institutions," Stirling said. "And I think it helps the institutions also because they're not having to field all these phone calls and then kind of figure out where they should send it."
The emails are checked through the weekend and calls are accepted between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m., Monday through Friday.
Medical – 803-896-8547, medicalconcerns@doc.sc.gov
Ombudsman – 803- 896-9409, ombudsman@doc.sc.gov
